The ruling All Progressives Congress APC’s Presidential Campaign Council PCC has demanded an urgent review of the 2023 election results in the Southeast, claiming that its candidates were violently harassed by elements of the Labour Party LP and their votes were discarded in a desperate attempt to shortchange the APC standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The Secretary of the Directorate of Agro and Commodities at the PCC, Retson Tedheke, specifically mentioned the case of the Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Representatives, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, representing Isiukwato/Umunneochi federal constituency, which it said suffered the worst of electoral manipulation, at a news conference Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, Hon. Onyejeocha won her election, but the quest by the LP to reduce the votes of Asiwaju in the zone, also led to the LP into shortchanging her.
“The APC should and must make every move to reclaim its stolen mandates, even if it means setting up a committee from the existing Presidential Campaign Council to review what transpired during the elections”, he stated.
Tedheke was joined by another chieftain of the party and Convener, Coalition for Good governance and Change Initiative, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi; Lead Director, Centre for Leadership Legacy International, Omonu Gowon-Nelson; and, National Coordinator, United Arewa Movement for Peace Good Governance, Hon. Abdullahi Bilal.
He said while the opposition which lost elections in most parts of the country have continued to raise fake alarm that the elections were rigged, “the silence on our part as a party striving to hold on the value of true democracy and also one that wants to play by rules of engagement, gives reasons for concern”.
The PCC said; “For Many frontline and dedicated member of the party, who contested for various elective positions but were denied victory arising from rigging by the opposition political parties, we are asking that the party stand strong for them, to ensure that they reclaim their stolen mandates without further delay, especially, in the prosecution of their cases before the Election Petition Tribunal.
“In the next few weeks, we will detail some of the shocking irregularities, abuses and fraud that we have uncovered with concrete evidence during the presidential and national assembly elections.
“Most outstanding case in view is that of House of Representatives Deputy Chief Whip, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, representing Isikwato/Umunneochi federal constituency.
“It is on record that Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha was the only APC stalwart in Abia State, who openly identified with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and stood on the podium to campaign along with him during the presidential across the region. While we don’t want to go to some of the issues she openly told Asiwaju during his campaign in the region, which eventually came to pass, we want to say that the party must stand up and reclaim all its stolen mandates in the country.
“As you all know, concerned stakeholders in the region have finalized modalities to challenge the outcome of elections in the South East, especially in Abia State where candidates who contested on the platform of Labour Party are still running from piller to pole to validate the credibility of their membership in Labour Party even after elections have been concluded. This is one fraud too many.
“We like to put it on record that the Labour Party LP candidate for Isiukwato/Umunneochi federal constituency, Amaobi Ogah, was not a bonafide member of LP at the time of the party primary, because he left the APC and joined the PDP in March 19, 2022. On June 4, 2022, he joined LP and contested the party primaries four days later, June 8. By contesting the primary in June 8, it explains clearly that he was not a member of any political party according to the provisions of the law and Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended).
“Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022, says ‘each party is required to maintain a membership register in hard and soft copy and to make such register available to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC not later than 30 days before the date fixed for primaries, congresses, and conventions.’
“Recall that on April 30, 2022, INEC demanded all political parties to submit registers of its members. The Labour Party held its National Assembly primaries on June 8. This was just 4 days after Amaobi Ogah joined the Labour Party. It follows that as of 8 June, 2022 when Ogah manipulated his way into the party to secure an illegal ticket, his name was not on the register of the Labour Party which had been submitted to INEC in compliance with the requirement of Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The constitution makes it clear that a candidate must belong to a political party, which Amaobi Ogah was not at the time he contested.
“While this is not the only basis for which she is challenging the results the Isiukwuato-Umunneochi Federal Constituency election of 25 February, we must also state it clear evidences electoral infractions have been compiled to validate our claims.
“While Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha has so far approached the Court to reclaim to challenge what members of her constituency have termed robbery hatched against her, we maintain that the leadership of the APC at all levels rise to the occasion to retrieve her mandate and that of many others who contested on the platform but were robbed of their mandates through widespread malpractices, vote suppression and falsification of results as witnessed in the South East”.